The present application relates generally to power distribution systems and, more particularly, to a circuit protection device and methods of configuring a circuit protection device.
Known electrical distribution systems include one or more circuit breakers that that are each coupled to one or more loads. The circuit breakers typically include a trip unit that controls the circuit breakers based upon sensed current flowing through the circuit breakers. For example, the trip unit causes current flowing through the circuit breaker to be interrupted if the current is outside of acceptable operating conditions.
At least some known trip units are programmed with one or more current thresholds (also known as “pickup” thresholds) that identify undesired current levels for the circuit breaker. In addition, different current thresholds may be desired by customers for a particular circuit breaker design. Accordingly, some known circuit breakers include one or more adjustable components that each are associated with a separate circuit breaker setting, such as a pickup threshold. A user or a manufacturer, for example, can adjust each circuit breaker setting by adjusting the component. However, each adjustable component is typically associated with a single circuit breaker setting. Accordingly, configuration options for at least some known circuit breakers may undesirably be limited, for example, by a lack of available space to add multiple adjustable components. For example, in many known circuit breakers, there is insufficient space to add any adjustable components, such as knobs, dials, or keypads. In other instances, circuit breakers without adjustable components need to have operating parameters configured or adjusted during assembly. It would be desirable therefor to provide a circuit breaker having operating parameters and settings that are operatively adjustable only via a separate programming device.